TROTD s02
Text Shining Armor smiled to himself as he strode slowly beneath the mid-morning sun through the streets of Canterlot, rolling his head on his shoulders before yawning loudly, and one of the Royal Guards asked mildly: "Long night, sir?" "Hey, eyes front. But... yes, it was." Shining Armor replied after a moment, smiling as he turned his attention ahead, and the four armored soldiers that made up the patrol all gave him looks that varied between amusement and envy. "Anyway, it's almost time to head back. Anyone see anything out of the ordinary?" The soldiers all answered in the negative, and Shining Armor nodded a bit as he looked back and forth, smiling again: this was the Canterlot, the Equestria, he loved and sought to protect. Clean streets kept safe by good ponies... not just him and his soldiers, but ponies like his sister and her friends, and the decent people that made up most of the city... hell, most of the country. Yes, they had their problems, still, and sometimes there were concerns... but Princess Celestia was always quick to respond these days, and wouldn't simply stand by and let anyone threaten her country. Even if they had been getting reports of rising crime, and strangely-dressed ponies, even if the patrols had been almost doubled over the last few weeks... Shining Armor still saw mostly good things around him. Saw peace, and prosperity, and happiness. Maybe that was why he was so unprepared for what happened next. One moment they were walking down the clean, cobbled streets, and the only ponies they saw were pleasant people, going about their morning errands or out for a walk: next, Shining Armor felt an alarm blare in his mind, and when he looked up, he realized too late there were suddenly two cloaked ponies on either side of the patrol, boxing them in, moving as calmly and silently as if they had always been there. Shining Armor stumbled over his own hooves, even as behind him, one of his soldiers laughed, none of them seeming aware of what was going on... and just as the Captain of the Guard began to open his mouth, not knowing if he was going to shout a warning at the cloaked figures or his own troops, one of the strange ponies was suddenly beside the guard just behind the white unicorn. The soldier began to turn, surprise on his features... and then he choked as the cloaked pony slammed a hoof into his throat before there was the singing sound of steel springing forwards, and the rending of flesh. Red splattered over the pavement, so bright it seemed surreal, as Shining Armor stumbled around in a circle and stared in shock... and the cloaked figure smoothly seized the soldier he had just attacked by the back of the neck before flinging him to the ground, the Royal Guard only staring outwards stupidly, his mouth working uselessly as he spasmed and choked on his own blood. And then the moment of shock was gone, and Shining Armor swung his horn down and fired a bolt of magic at one of the other cloaked ponies, knocking it flying backwards as he shouted: "We're under attack!" His soldiers immediately dropped to ready positions despite how shocked they looked, facing towards the cloaked figures... but then the one furthest from the group gargled, and Shining Armor's eyes widened in horror as he saw one of the cloaked ponies had managed to leap up behind the soldier and wrap a steel wire around his throat. The ivory unicorn began to charge forwards, but a moment later there was another cloaked figure in his way, as his other soldiers were engaged by the last. Shining snapped his horn down, meaning to blast the cloak out of his way, but in a deft, sharp movement, the unknown pony swept his cloak off and flung it into the magic missile that fired at him. The cloak was blasted to pieces, and Shining winced as he was blinded for a moment by the flurry of burning cloth debris before a hoof smashed through the cloud and into his face, knocking him staggering backwards. Then another two hooves smashed into his chest, and he was knocked crashing and rolling on his back with a gargle, landing sprawled out as he stared in horror at the pony that had attacked him. It was a Pegasus, dressed in lightweight, silver body armor engraved with a symbol of a bird, red bracers locked around his forelegs. "This one we keep alive. The others are unnecessary. Eliminate them." Shining Armor snarled as he leapt to his hooves, running forwards, and the Pegasus only looked at him coldly before springing forwards at the last moment: but as his front hoof swung out, Shining dropped low, and the blow sailed high over his skull before he slashed his horn against the chest of the Pegasus, denting his armor and knocking the Pegasus backwards with a grunt of surprise. The unicorn tackled forwards as the Pegasus stumbled, knocking him onto his back before he swung a hoof savagely down into his face and stunned him. Then Shining looked up and snapped his horn outwards, firing a blast of energy into one of the still-cloaked ponies that had pinned one of his surviving soldiers. He was knocked flying, before Shining shouted a denial when the other cloaked figure simply snapped the neck of the soldier he had managed to pin down. The unicorn began to lunge forwards, but a moment later, something hit the ground in front of him before exploding in a tremendous blast of light and sound... and for Shining Armor, agony as well, as arcs of energy sizzled over his horn and his vision went blurry, his thoughts went static. A hoof smashed into him from... he couldn't even tell where, the pain in his head was too great as he collapsed to the ground, and then he felt another hoof seize his mane, yanking his head back before a voice said coldly: "No. We need him alive. Follow your orders." For a moment, there was nothing, and Shining Armor gritted his teeth as he tensed his body, readying himself to spring to his hooves... but before he could, the hoof on his scalp shoved his head viciously down into the street, and everything went black. Top ↑ Category:Transcript Category:Story